Editor’s note: This article describes a hypothetical situation.

Bob has been around the block several times when it comes to deposing third-party witnesses in arbitration proceedings. He knows the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not expressly allow for the full-blown discovery that parties routinely get under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Bob even can recite the language of the FAA regarding subpoenas: “The arbitrators … may summon in writing any person to attend before them or any of them as a witness and in a proper case to bring with him or them any book, record, document or paper which may be deemed material as evidence in the case.”